Mexico City – Mexican authorities have arrested a reputed major figure in one of Colombia’s largest and most feared drug cartels responsible for nearly half of the cocaine smuggled into the United States, U.S. officials said Friday.
Jaime Maya Duran was arrested Wednesday by agents of Mexico’s attorney general’s office in Mexico City and flown immediately to New York, where he is under indictment on drug trafficking and money laundering charges, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, said in a news release.
Maya Duran’s arrest “shows the determination of U.S. and Mexican law enforcement authorities to pursue the most dangerous criminals, including those who thought they were untouchable,” U.S. Ambassador in Mexico Tony Garza said in a statement.
Officials at the attorney general’s office in Mexico said they had no immediate comment.
A Colombian citizen, Maya Duran and three other key lieutenants allegedly took over the Norte Valle cartel, based in Cartago, Colombia, after the ring’s suspected leader, Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante, was jailed in Cuba for attempting to enter the country with a false passport two years ago.
The ICE said the cartel is Colombia’s largest and most feared, and allegedly exported more than 1.2 million pounds of cocaine to the United States between 1990 and 2004.
Maya Duran allegedly arranged the logistics of drug shipments to the United States and Europe, according to the U.S. State Department.
U.S. officials posted a $5 million reward in his arrest.
